Shot in the dark

In April, the Arkansas Times reported the
story of North Little Rock resident Tracy Ingle, who was shot in
January 2008 by a North Little Rock Police Department S.W.A.T. team
executing a no-knock search warrant on his East 21st Street home.
Though the search of Ingle's residence and Jeep uncovered no drugs or
drug-making supplies — only a digital scale and some baggies that other
family members say belong to them — Ingle stands accused of several
felonies, including possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of
aggravated assault, for pointing a non-working gun at two North Little
Rock police officers who smashed through his bedroom window in the
middle of the night, waking him from a sound sleep.

Those officers, later identified in
court filings as Wesley Honeycutt and Steven Chamness, riddled Ingle's
bedroom with bullet holes and shot Ingle five times, including one
bullet that pulverized his left femur.

At the time of the story's publication,
NLR police and the office of Traffic Judge Randy Morley had been unable
to produce for us the affidavit that was presented by police to obtain
the warrant on Ingle's house.

An attorney for Ingle was able to
obtain that affidavit, however, and a recent filing based on details
found there seems to raise even more questions about the case.

In the affidavit, included in a motion
to suppress evidence filed on Sept. 8 by Little Rock attorney John
Wesley Hall Jr., NLRPD investigator James Franks states that on Dec.
20, 2007, a confidential source purchased methamphetamine at Ingle's
house from a white female known to the informant only as “Kate.” The
informant told Franks that “Kate” almost always carried a gun. In
addition to the informant's warning about the suspect being potentially
armed, Franks made the case for a night-time, no-knock raid — used only
when there would be considerable danger to officers — because Ingle's
house is on a dead-end street, and because evidence could be destroyed
if the police were to announce their presence before entry.

Hall points out that while the search
warrant was signed by Judge Morley on the afternoon of Dec. 21, 2007,
police did not act upon the warrant until Jan. 7, 2008 — more than 17
days later. “Any possible probable cause dissipated between the
issuance of the search warrant at 2:19 p.m. December 21 and 7:40 p.m.
January 7,” Hall wrote. “(T)he unreasonableness of delay in execution
made it stale.”

Arkansas law states that a search
warrant must be executed “within a reasonable time,” but not more than
60 days after it is issued.

Even though a drug sale by a woman
named “Kate” was central to obtaining the search warrant on Ingle's
residence, details about the woman and the drugs she sold are sketchy
in the affidavit. By the time of the raid, “Kate” had apparently never
been detained, questioned or even identified beyond a first name by
North Little Rock police. “What does this affidavit say about the nexus
between ‘Kate' or the drugs and the premises which would tend to
indicate that drugs would be found there at the time of the search?
Nothing; not a word,” Hall wrote. “Is she a long term guest, short term
guest, occasional visitor, defendant's girlfriend or just passing
through, co-tenant, sole owner, trespasser, meddler? Nothing is said …
For all the affidavit for the search warrant shows, there was no effort
to determine who ‘Kate' was and whether ‘Kate' was associated with the
premises.”

Continuing on the theme of the
vagueness of Franks' affidavit and the connection between ‘Kate' and
Ingle, Hall wrote: “Did the drugs for that sale constitute a mere
1/10th of a gram and it was all she had on her? Did it come from a
larger stash or out of a pocket? Did ‘Kate' say anything about there
being more drugs? Apparently not, because any effective police officer
certainly would have included a reference to it to bolster the effort
at showing probable cause.”

John Hout is handling the case for the
Pulaski County prosecuting attorney's office. He said that ethical
rules prevent him from discussing the particulars of the case —
including the issue of whether or not a search warrant can go “stale”
if not executed promptly — but added that he would be filing a response
to Hall's motion in the near future. Hout said that because of
scheduling conflicts and other concerns, Ingle's trial would likely be
postponed until late 2008 or early 2009.

Comments

More by David Koon

A wayward Mercedes-Benz careened off Main Street in North Little Rock following a traffic accident Saturday night, with the car smashing through a window and destroying a door at Argenta Bead Co. The impact knocked over shelves and scattered what the owner of the business called "thousands and thousands and thousands" of beads and charms, including several expensive and rare antique glass beads — across the store.

The Governor's office today announced the creation of an "Office of Transformation" along with a new chief officer for the agency, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson saying the goal of the office would be to "drive efficiency" in government and streamline state operations.

Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesman Solomon Graves issued a press release this morning with details of a small prison riot that apparently occurred last night at the Varner Unit in Grady.

Most Shared

Next week a series of meetings on the use of technology to tackle global problems will be held in Little Rock by Club de Madrid — a coalition of more than 100 former democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world — and the P80 Group, a coalition of large public pension and sovereign wealth funds founded by Prince Charles to combat climate change. The conference will discuss deploying existing technologies to increase access to food, water, energy, clean environment, and medical care.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was on "Capitol View" on KARK, Channel 4, this morning, and among other things that will likely inspire you to yell at your computer screen, he said he expects someone in the legislature to file a bill to do ... something about changing the name of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

So fed up was young Edgar Welch of Salisbury, N.C., that Hillary Clinton was getting away with running a child-sex ring that he grabbed a couple of guns last Sunday, drove 360 miles to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., where Clinton was supposed to be holding the kids as sex slaves, and fired his AR-15 into the floor to clear the joint of pizza cravers and conduct his own investigation of the pedophilia syndicate of the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.

Latest in Top Stories

The return of Say McIntosh, restaurateur

Robocalls -- recorded messages sent to thousands of phone numbers -- are a fact of life in political campaigns. The public doesn't like them much, judging by the gripes about them, but campaign managers and politicians still believe in their utility.